Happy Mother's Day
by Saran VD
Summary: An unpleasant mother's day at Spinner's End with the Snape family. Rating to be REALLLY REALLY safe. Please review! Oneshot.


**A/N: Yet another contest entry for HEX. The prompt for this one was to write about mother's day in a character's family. I chose Snape's. Enjoy!**

Happy Mother's Day

Eileen Snape frowned. It was Mother's Day, and- as usual- she was alone. True, her son was there, but he wasn't quite the company she was looking for. He was just as sullen sometimes as she and Tobias could be. She needed cheer and joy today to break up the drudgery that she was used to. Tobias was off again, as always, drinking away their money bit by bit, trying to make himself forget the truth of the life he lived.

Tobias didn't like magic; that much was obvious by merely looking at him. However, he loved Eileen more than he hated magic, and she returned his love wholeheartedly... for the most part. Tobias didn't take it well when little Severus discovered his own magic for the first time. Ever since then, Tobias hadn't been home as much, leaving for a long stretch of time every evening and coming home a completely different man. It was only Eileen's devotion that kept her from using Dark Magic against him, especially when he vented useless anger out on her. His evenings at the pub were robbing her not only of any money that they had, but also of her dignity. Before long, it would do the same to Severus, and she couldn't stand for it. She was protective and determined to save her son from becoming too much like his father.

Severus was in the living room with her now, listlessly reading a book with his hooked nose- his father's nose- almost touching the pages. He lay on his stomach, and her heart twisted as she noticed the way that his clothes fit him in a way that made him look even more emaciated than he already was. She turned away from him briskly, using her wand to tidy things up around their cottage. She wanted to help him, wanted to be given an opportunity to give him everything that she could. The least that she could do was encourage him with his schoolwork when the time came.

She had to step over Severus to get close enough to the far wall to figure out what was needed to fix it. The charm was simple, but she needed to be able to see the shape of the crack. Severus didn't seem to even notice her presence, and she cringed at his indifference. Long ago, she had given up on touching his heart, for nothing she tried worked. She quickly and easily fixed the crack in the wall before moving to sit beside Severus.

He was small for his age, and he had her dark, focused eyes and thin face. She stroked his dark and greasy hair- so much like her own- as she sat. Severus still didn't respond.

"Severus?" she asked in a hesitant voice.

"Hmm?" asked the ten-year-old without taking his eyes off of his book.

"You okay?" Her fingers in his hair were gentle as they worked the knots out.

"I guess," he said. His eyes flickered towards her face for an instant before he went back to his book.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No," was the reply, and the voice that delivered it was curt. "There's nothing that needs helped."

She sighed heavily and flipped up the front cover of Severus's book. "_Potions for Beginners"_ blared the title in large golden letters. It was Eileen's old textbook from her first year at Hogwarts. She was about to say something about his choice of reading when there were several loud thumps upon the door.

The door creaked open, but she ignored it, which was unusual. Tobias always expected her waiting for him in the doorway as he stumbled into the house. She knew that she would have hell to pay later, but she didn't care. Her only thought was that she needed Tobias to let off some steam before getting anywhere near Severus.

She rose now, giving Severus's shoulder a squeeze as she did so. Her footsteps were a bit shaky, but she figured that nothing looked straight to Tobias, anyway, so it didn't really matter. Anyway, he was having a hard enough time trying to get his shoes off. Eileen was fairly certain that he wasn't paying any attention to her.

His struggles were pathetic, and she ended up crouching on the ground before him and untying his laces so that he could kick them off (even his stupor).

"Good evening, Tobias," she said softly. All of her outspokenness disappeared as soon as his unfocused eyes drifted her way.

Tobias Snape grunted.

She looked at him, her dark eyes staring, trying to find the man she had married within the empty shell before her. Nothing. A loud sigh escaped her lips as she asked, "How was your day?"

For some unfathomable reason, the slightly irritated tone of her voice set him off, and he went completely berserk, screaming his head off about nothing for no reason at all. He gestured sharply and almost violently, and while he never touched her, she was terrified of him. He was standing between her and her wand, and there was no way that she could get to it. Anyway, she was bound to get in huge trouble with the Ministry for hexing a muggle, even if she had a legitimate excuse. She tried to tune him out, and that worked for a while. She was able to think of other things, more pleasant topics. She would be taking Severus to Diagon Alley in only a year's time. That trip had been something that she'd looked forward to for her whole life. She was finally focusing clearly on that when a new sound jerked her back to reality.

Carrying over even the thunderous yells of Tobias came a sound that would've sounded soft to any other ear. Sniffles were coming from the far corner of the living room, and Eileen turned her head to look at the sound's source, and her heart broke when she managed to figure out that the pitiful cries she heard were coming from her son, Severus. She started to walk over to him, hoping to console him, but Tobias blocked her path again.

"I'm not through with you yet!" he roared, stumbling as he tried to approach her menacingly.

Her wand was just out of reach. "Sev…" she whispered, softly enough that Tobias would be unable to hear it. Her head inclined towards her wand on the coffee table.

Severus's cheeks were still wet with tears, but he got the message and grabbed his mother's wand for her, holding it out tentatively.

She began to reach for it, but Tobias swatted her hand away. However, this didn't stop her, and she reached for it again. This time, he grabbed her wrist and literally threw her down to the floor.

Something inside of the ten year old boy snapped, and he pointed the wand at his father. Any small objects that had been laying around the living room- including the heavy book- were all inexplicably launched at Tobias Snape. The man swore loudly as he attempted to fend off the inanimate objects.

Eileen took advantage of his distraction to scoop Severus up into her arms like a baby and run out of the house with him. The boy still held her wand, but which she took with one hand before turning on the spot and Apparating elsewhere.

She stood now in front of her old house. Her parents had both died a few years previously, so the house was empty, as well as technically hers. "[i]_Alohamora[/i],_" she murmured, and the door unlocked itself. Still holding Severus, she opened the door and walked briskly inside.

There were no functioning lights in the house anymore; the only source of light came from the setting sun. After setting Severus down, she sat beneath one of the windows in a small patch of light. Severus, still shaking from head to toe, sat beside her. He leaned his head on her shoulder, and she wrapped her arm around him, hugging him close to her.

They both stared out the window for a bit in silence. The sun finally dipped out of sight, leaving the sky behind painted in vivid oranges and pinks. She sighed a bit heavily, using one hand to tuck a lock of her short black hair out of her face.

Severus noticed her tone and whispered, so quietly that she almost couldn't hear him, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom."

Eileen blinked rapidly, and her dark eyes shot over to her son. He was looking up at her and smiling slightly. Suddenly, in that one little smile- the first of his that she'd seen that day- all of the earlier events left her mind entirely.

"Thank you, Sev," she whispered, and she truly meant it. She gave her son a fond squeeze and smiled to herself, for she'd just received the world's best Mother's Day present.


End file.
